


Solve for X

by viklikesfic (v_angelique)



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Academia, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kink Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-14
Updated: 2010-02-14
Packaged: 2017-10-07 10:09:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/64105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/v_angelique/pseuds/viklikesfic





	Solve for X

He's been trying to figure it out for weeks.

Any mystery that lasts this long is enough to dominate Spock's attention, and when he finds the boy one afternoon, so absorbed in the frantically flying stylus on the big screen at the front of an empty classroom that he doesn't even hear Spock enter the room, it's something of a relief. His logical calculations are not incorrect. It was, in fact, an outsider, not a cadet or a professor, that's been running around the Academy, solving everyone else's problems, doing the proofs in advanced physics and warp theory and higher maths that stump the cadets, even some of the instructors. Spock stands in the doorway, hands folded behind his back, as he watches the waiflike boy in ragged jeans and a puffy brown jacket scribble out the final steps of an equation. It's not something Spock himself couldn't prove, exactly, but it's difficult, something a human child Spock estimates to be fourteen or fifteen years of age shouldn't be able to master. He claps slowly, and the boy whips around, dropping the stylus.

"I... explain! I explain this!"

Spock steps forward, and the boy looks like he's going to bolt, but Spock moves slowly and keeps an eye on his muscle movements. After a beat, the boy slumps in defeat, staring at his shoes as if he's committed a terrible crime.

"Your abilities are impressive. Perhaps confounding to Starfleet professors, arriving to lecture to find their example equations already solved, equations that were intended to be left for the students..." At this, the boy slumps further, his chin nearly touching his chest. "...but impressive. You are human. However, your command of Standard is--"

"Sorry. I... sorry. From Russia. Come... on boat. For better life."

"What is your name?"

"Pavel Andreievich. Chekov. Sir."

"Why do you not apply to Starfleet Academy, Pavel Andreievich? You are young, but obviously gifted. The Academy... does not charge tuition," Spock adds, noting the state of the boy's clothes and how he appears to be much too thin.

"Is not problem, Sir. Standard. Is problem. Languages... difficult. Not like maths."

Spock considers a moment. "What if you were to receive tutoring in Standard? The administration can grant a special circumstance, and you can complete the application and sit the entrance exam in your native language. It can be interpreted."

"You... do this?" Chekov exclaims. "For me?" He points to himself with a slim finger and Spock nods.

"Your intellect would be an asset to the Academy. Will you sit the exam?"

The boy nods enthusiastically. "Yes, Sir. Is honor! But..." He pauses, frowning. "Am not... home... is not... good. Maths not good for my father. Labor... his preference."

"There are jobs you can do at the Academy that do not require linguistic abilities," Spock suggests gently. "If you wish to earn a wage to send home. If you are accepted, room and board are provided as part of your education. Under the condition that you are willing to serve in Starfleet as an officer upon graduation."

"Oh, yes, Sir! Space... is favorite! Yes!"

Spock almost allows himself a smile. His hand comes to the small of the boy's back, leading him in the direction of the dining hall. He will contact the administrators first thing in the morning.


End file.
